This year, US government executes the most people in more than a century

A sign stands outside the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, as Daniel Lewis Lee, convicted in the killing of three members of an Arkansas family in 1996, is set to be put to death in the first federal execution in 17 years, in Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. July 13, 2020.

A sign stands outside the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, as Daniel Lewis Lee, convicted in the killing of three members of an Arkansas family in 1996, is set to be put to death in the first federal execution in 17 years, in Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. July 13, 2020. Photo by REUTERS/Bryan Woolston

The federal government has executed 10 people so far this year. It’s the most since 1896 and more than all 50 states combined. The pandemic played a part in that state-level slowdown of capital punishment. But this wave of federal executions is unprecedented in the modern era. Three more death sentences are scheduled to happen before President Trump leaves office next month.

“This is the first year that we're seeing in modern history that the number of federal executions is outnumbering executions in all the other states combined,” says Ngozi Ndulue, Senior Director of Research and Special Projects at the Death Penalty Information Center.

Credits

Guest:

  • Ngozi Ndulue - Senior Director of Research and Special Projects at the Death Penalty Information Center

Host:

Madeleine Brand

Producers:

Sarah Sweeney, Angie Perrin, Michell Eloy, Amy Ta, Rosalie Atkinson, Brian Hardzinski, Bennett Purser